


Diamond Sky

by WingedWolf121



Series: The Stuff of Legends [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Episode: s04e10 Midnight, Gen, Immortal Merlin, small epilogue to the episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 04:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11524686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingedWolf121/pseuds/WingedWolf121
Summary: The Doctor catches Jethro just before he leaves the planet. The conversation is illuminating.





	Diamond Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on FFNet ages ago, but I rewatched Midnight tonight and decided to polish up the old fic and slap it onto AO3. Because was there any Merlin fan watching that episode whose mind didn't immediately see Colin Morgan and jump to an angsty au about Merlin's immortality?
> 
> (Hush, I know it's been done, but you can never have too many versions of a fun concept.)

The Doctor found him in the lobby of the Leisure Palace, gazing through the exothermic windows. The view was nothing more than silver glow, but it lit up Jethro's features, lending them an ethereal, inhuman, look. 

The Doctor put his hands behind his back and said nothing, just stood beside him. After today, he was more inclined to let someone else speak first.

"I'm sorry," Jethro said at last. "I could have helped back there, and I lost my head completely. I almost let  _you_ die." 

The way he said  _you_ , like he knew more about the Doctor than he was letting on, confirmed what the Doctor had been thinking for about half the ride, the theory that had been slowly building in the back of his head while chaos reigned around them. Because that's who the Doctor was, he built clever theories, even on days when he'd really, deeply, rather just go back to Donna and leave this planet in the dust.

But still. There was a responsibility.

"You were the calmest person in that car, and the youngest too. At least, you look young." The Doctor glanced at him. "In your early twenties, traveling with your parents, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jethro said. He put his hands in his pockets. He'd found an old coat to go over the t-shirt.

"Only, thing is, they didn't seem too concerned about you," the Doctor said. He leaned back, bobbing once on his feet. "In fact, at the time of crisis, they barely even seemed to register that you were there. And you know, that's very basic human instinct. Protect your offspring when danger threatens." The Doctor let his hand drop to his pocket, where the sonic screwdriver rested. "So. Who are you really?"

Jethro let out a long, tired, breath. "Nobody."

"Oh, don't try that one on me, Jethro. Or is there something else you'd prefer to be called?" 

"Doesn't matter." The man shifted, and something in his posture changed, so he looked older, more weary. "I had someone, a long time ago. I dunno what you call it know. Boyfriend, lover, soulmate. All that. And he's gone. And so's my home. And I was...I've been alone for  _so long_." 

"So you took two people, and what, just inserted yourself into their lives? Set up some sort of illusion, tinkered with their minds?"

"You can drop the tone. I released the Canes as soon as the rescue vehicle dropped us off. They've already left the planet, they went on the first shuttle. I just stayed behind to make sure the palace was cleared." The man shrugged. 

"Good." The Doctor paused. "You know, that's  _extraordinary_ workmanship, to mess around with someone's memories so thoroughly that they think you're their son. Brilliant, I'd say, if it wasn't so unethical."

"It wasn't a very good job, you saw. The family wasn't really that functional." The man smiled, self-deprecating and sad. "And it didn't make me feel any better, either. I just wanted to be cared for, after being alone so long...but I think I forgot how stubborn humans are, no matter what power you're using on them. I'd certainly forgotten that they can be great, before today."

"Today's what you'd call a reminder of human greatness?" The Doctor asked. He couldn't say he'd seen the same. Just human pettiness, and pride, and stupidity, and  _selfishness_ , and one shining glimpse into basic decency. It was enough to make him weary.

"You were noble."

"Oh, but you know I'm not human."

"Still, one of them protected you in end." The man sighed. "And greatness and stupidity always go together. It reminded me of home, the one I thought was gone a long time ago. So long ago that I didn't even recognize you at first, even though your visit was...significant, for me." He sighed again, and looking at his pale face, the Doctor was reminded of the view of the planet from the engine room of the tour bus. Bleak, and beautiful, and barren of anything human. "Time has passed us both, timelord."

The Doctor's shoulders tensed. "How do you know that?"

"You told me. A long time ago, in a past that humanity has very nearly forgotten." 

"We've met. Whole universe, and I manage to cross my own timeline. My people would be ashamed." The Doctor said. "So, who are you?"

"You, once. Or well, you were me. And I don't think it helped my reputation for being mad. Since I wasn't, back then." The man shook his head. "I'm starting to think I might be, now. Stealing myself a family...the men I knew, in the past, they were noble men, they'd be ashamed of me. Of what I've become."

"Don't be too hard on yourself." The Doctor said. "I know what being lonely is like, and it's hard."

"Still." The man shut his eyes once, and opened them. "I should go now. Back to my wait."

"Oh, hold on." The Doctor said. "You can't leave a man like me with all these questions, I'll go mad trying to find you again."

"I know." The man said, and reached a hand into one of his pockets. "Take this, for luck. You'll need it when you meet me."

He put a small velvet package in the Doctor's hand. As their fingers brushed, the Doctor felt time shift around them. A subtle hand playing it, not warping the time stream so much as drawing it around himself like a sheath. And then time sliding seamlessly back into its proper bed, unaffected by the tiny, cosmic, shift. And the man was gone.

"Hold on!" The Doctor bolted forward, toward the entrance of the Leisure Palace, where the last shuttle was boarding. For a second he could see the man, just before the doors to the convoy shut. His eyes had turned, from blue into an ancient burnished gold. "How did you--" 

The doors slid shut. The man was gone. The Doctor let out a long breath. Well.  _There_ was a force in the universe.

He looked down at the package. It was no bigger than the palm of his hand, and wrapped nicely, in the sort of old earth velvet you could normally never get this far away from the primary system. He unwrapped it carefully. 

The brooch was like something you would use to pin a cloak. Old, and weather beaten, but the scarlet inlay was still bright, and the dragon was still purest gold. The same gold in the man's eyes.

"No." The Doctor breathed, as he looked down at the crest of Camelot. He looked up, at the closed doors. "No  _way_."

But the wizard was gone. 

**Author's Note:**

> I think I'm going to write a sequel to this where the Doctor heads back in time to find out what the fuck went down in Camelot, because it really was fun to reconnect with 10. 
> 
> hmu on tumblr at lancelotofthelake to cry about Merlin and yell about the new Doctor


End file.
